Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems

Antarctica, an isolated and long considered pristine wilderness, is becoming increasingly exposed to the negative effects of ship-borne human activity, and especially the introduction of invasive species. Here, we provide a comprehensive quantitative analysis of ship movements into Antarctic waters and a spatially explicit assessment of introduction risk for nonnative marine species in all Antarctic waters. We show that vessels traverse Antarctica’s isolating natural barriers, connecting it directly via an extensive network of ship activity to all global regions, especially South Atlantic and European ports. Ship visits are more than seven times higher to the Antarctic Peninsula (especially east of Anvers Island) and the South Shetland Islands than elsewhere around Antarctica, together accounting for 88% of visits to Southern Ocean ecoregions. Contrary to expectations, we show that while the five recognized “Antarctic Gateway cities” are important last ports of call, especially for research and tourism vessels, an additional 53 ports had vessels directly departing to Antarctica from 2014 to 2018. We identify ports outside Antarctica where biosecurity interventions could be most effectively implemented and the most vulnerable Antarctic locations where monitoring programs for high-risk invaders should be established.

Migrant residential concentrations and socio-economic disadvantage in two Australian gateway cities

This article explores the relationship of residential concentrations of non-Anglophone migrants with socio-economic disadvantage at the suburb (SA2) level. We look at two main Australian gateway cities, Sydney and Melbourne. We use the ‘person-counts’ of the latest available (2016) Australian Census data, matching them with the socio-economic data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics ‘socio-economic indexes for areas’ (SEIFA). Our analysis shows that despite decades of careful filtering of migrants for skills and language, socio-economic disadvantage in migrant concentrations persists in the main gateway cities, being more pronounced in Melbourne than in Sydney. The article employs an original quantitative analysis in order to advance the understanding of relationship between ethnicity, socio-economic position and residential location. We seek to contribute to the ongoing scholarly and policy debate about migrant concentration areas in large immigrant-receiving cities.

Antarctica’s Gateways and Gatekeepers: Polar scenarios in a polarising Anthropocene

As the short to medium-term social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic dominate world issues, longer-term environmental and geopolitical concerns remain of great concern. However, the appetite for tackling complex transdisciplinary anthropogenic change processes may be receding rather than accelerating. In this essay, we propose that Antarctica, the continent of peace and science, a place that assumes a role as the global imaginary Other, where short- and long-term horizons co-exist, is a site where signs of global regeneration in the Anthropocene should be clear. To provoke discussion, we imagine two scenarios set in the five Gateway Cities of Antarctica to 2050. In the ‘Gatekeepers’ scenario, there is a fragmented global order with minimal unregulated behaviour based on narrowly defined national interests; in the ‘Gateways’ scenario, values-based partnerships generate novel institutional arrangements. By contrasting these polar opposites as a performative act, we highlight the need for future-making at the interface between science and policy.

Vietnamese refugees' resettlement experiences in Peterborough, Ontario : Intergration and mobility

Many immigrants and refugees arriving in Canada resettle in the gateway cities, including Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. The Canadian government attempts to redistribute refugees across the country to reduce large metropolitan centers’ pressures to provide resources for newcomers and to revitalize small cities’ economies. However, there is a lack of literature on refugees’ challenges and successes while resettling in small cities. This paper is a historical case study of Vietnamese refugees’ resettlement experiences in Peterborough, Ontario. It explores how the Peterborough community responded to the arrival of Vietnamese refugees and analyzes the factors that influenced the participants’ decisions to stay in Peterborough or relocate to other cities. The participants’ experiences revealed that, the Peterborough community’s initial warm reception was important for building social networks, but the availability of employment and the ability to support their families were more significant factors in influencing their decisions to move. Keywords: Vietnamese refugees, resettlement, integration, reception, Peterborough, redistribution, mobility, community, settlement services

Vietnamese refugees' resettlement experiences in Peterborough, Ontario : Intergration and mobility

Many immigrants and refugees arriving in Canada resettle in the gateway cities, including Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. The Canadian government attempts to redistribute refugees across the country to reduce large metropolitan centers’ pressures to provide resources for newcomers and to revitalize small cities’ economies. However, there is a lack of literature on refugees’ challenges and successes while resettling in small cities. This paper is a historical case study of Vietnamese refugees’ resettlement experiences in Peterborough, Ontario. It explores how the Peterborough community responded to the arrival of Vietnamese refugees and analyzes the factors that influenced the participants’ decisions to stay in Peterborough or relocate to other cities. The participants’ experiences revealed that, the Peterborough community’s initial warm reception was important for building social networks, but the availability of employment and the ability to support their families were more significant factors in influencing their decisions to move. Keywords: Vietnamese refugees, resettlement, integration, reception, Peterborough, redistribution, mobility, community, settlement services

Counter-fun, scholarly legitimacy, and environmental engagement – or why academics should code games

Acknowledged as urgent and complex, the communication of environmental science is at once an outcome and a subject of academic research. In this article, we detail the results of workshops with young residents of five “Antarctic gateway cities” (Hobart, Christchurch, Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, and Cape Town) who helped design and evaluate an online game that sought to communicate complex intersections of climate policy and science. We focus here on secondary effects of the workshops and game. On the one hand, outputs such as digital games respond to renewed desires for and from researchers to reach beyond scholarly sanctuaries and engage with real-world issues and communities in ways that question barriers of expertise and institutional entitlement. On the other, such dissolutions expose gaps in competency that can unnerve both researchers and participants, interrogating the expediency of collaborative game design and evaluation, and posing questions about the broader role and scope of “non-traditional” research outputs. Elaborating on Pérez Latorre’s notion of “counter-fun”, we chart our efforts to engage youth audiences in Antarctic cities through workshops, social media and anonymous statistics derived from gameplay. We conclude that game design and evaluation, as methods that bind and orient researchers and participants toward common objects of interest, can yield surprising channels of speculation and dialogue that align neither with conventional research nor the planned engagement of non-traditional outputs.